One Hell of a Family Reunion
by dethronedgod
Summary: Ciel sold his soul to a demonic entity to exact revenge on his family's killer. Edward Forrest was the mastermind behind the murder with the help of angels but this was only to exact his own vengeance. Edward and Ciel are brothers in a seemingly endless battle to avenge the wrongs done to them. London will burn as one of these two brothers will be avenged and the other will die.
1. Chapter 1

The city of London had a grey and gloomy feel about it but the residents of the city had long since grown used to it. Surrounded by other quiet mansions, the Forrest household stood in the shadows, illuminated only by the lamp posts. The noises constantly interrupted the calm and quiet in the night for the period of years the master of the house resided in it. Edward Forrest was the master of the Forrest household at the age of eighteen but had been in charge for ten years. Edward wasn't the kind of person to have his disease hold him back from what he wanted. However, there were some things he couldn't do no matter what, and tonight, going back to sleep was one of them. The constant hacking and coughing echoed throughout the house alerting the servants doing their individual work in the house. The small group of people looked towards the direction of Edward's room with all their faces twisted into disturbed expressions.

The coughs slowly subsided and eventually the only other sound in the house that Edward heard was a series of footsteps climbing the set of stairs to his bedroom. Quietly creaking, the door opened, revealing a tall, slender young woman. Her ice-blue hair color and mostly white clothing made her stand out against the dark room. Even her skin was a pale complexion, which gave her the appearance of a ghost in the darkened room. The clothing she had on that wasn't white was a shade of lavender that matched her eyes. Her eyes against the pitch-black room made it look as though she had two dark holes where her eyes should have been.

The woman looked at the tin bucket in her master's lap that was slowly filling up with blood that his body has been coughing up and forcing out. "Looks like I won't be going back to sleep." Edward muttered, wiping the dark blood from the side of his mouth with the back of his hand. The woman wasn't sure how to interpret his statement, but giggled slightly in response. She looked upon the pale man with pity in her heart. Edward Forrest wanted to be seen as strong but he never could be with his condition. Edward was plagued with tuberculosis which was slowly killing him. The fact that he had lived as long as he had was nothing short of good fortune. Doctors had predicted that Edward wouldn't live past the age of eight but against all odds he had managed to gain an extra decade. Miracles could happen and Edward's survival was one such miracle.

"What's today's schedule, Angela?" Edward asked while attempting to climb out of his bed. Angela rushed over to his side to assist him, wrapping his arm across her neck and her arm around his waist. "You have an appointment with Dr. McCormick at noon to refill your medication. After that you have a meeting with Mr. Vanel to discuss the next move." Edward forced himself to stand up as tall as he could when Mr. Vanel was brought up. Immediately, images of the various deals he had made with the Ferro family came to mind. 

Angela assisted Edward in removing his gray pajamas as he stared at himself in the mirror. The first things he noticed were his almost purplish hair color and dark blue eyes that ran in his family. Once the pajamas were removed his pale skeletal body was revealed. His skin almost stretched itself over his ribs. Over where his heart would be is a titanium colored Azazel sigil symbol tattooed on his left pectoral muscle. He recalled when he had first obtained the sign and couldn't help but feel a sense of relief as it once again disappeared behind the cloth of his white dress shirt. Every time he laid his eyes on that symbol it reminded him that he would one day die and no miracle would save him then.

"Ash has the schedules that you asked for, master." Angela said as she straightened his silver colored tie around his neck. "Excellent." Edward said. His voice had a regal tone to it but with the large fit of coughing earlier it sounded raspy and weak. After assisting Edward with his overcoat, Angela placed a mask over his nose and mouth. Grabbing his cane for support, he steadied himself as best he could and followed Angela out of the room.

"Good morning, master." Ash said as Edward climbed down the stairs with the help of his cane and Angela. "Good morning to you too, Ash." Edward said as he made his way towards the living room and Ash followed him. Ash was somewhat taller than Edward and dressed in a white suit with a purple overcoat. In many ways Ash was the male counterpart of Angela. He had white hair and purple eyes much like Angela. In very similar fashion to hers, Ash was bound to nobody but Edward Forrest. He used the absolute fullest of his abilities to ensure that he was protected from what he deemed dangerous and proved himself to be very dangerous himself to those Edward deemed worthy of death.

Edward sat down in a purple colored arm chair in front of the fireplace which had flames roaring in the pile of wood. Edward attentively watched the orange and yellow lights dance about energetically. The flames licked the edge and sides of the fireplace. The once grey bricks were now changing from orange to yellow at a rapid pace alongside the fire and the flares cracked while ash and soot retreated from the burning substance. Edward rested his black cane across his lap and simply sat in front of the flames as he imagined his past going up in the same smoke and flame before him as it did once before.

Well into the afternoon, Dr. McCormick came by as promised with the medications that Edward needed. With one hand he opened his case to reveal a large collection of pill bottles, syringes, scalpels and a bunch of other intimidating looking tools. In his other hand he held a white handkerchief over his mouth and nose. Dr. McCormick was doing the best he could to protect himself from Edward's infection. Edward knew that he only needed the bitter tasting pills, but the sight of the sharp things that had opened up many people before him made him cringe slightly. No words were exchanged between the men, only some currency and pills. Once Dr. McCormick left the premises Edward pulled down his mask and swallowed the pills whole. They had an unpleasant feel going down very much like a lump in his throat being forced down.

In the evening, a knock at the door echoed throughout the house. Edward took great displeasure in this as it interrupted his reading. He sighed behind his surgical mask as he placed the dark red bookmark between the yellow pages of the aged book in his hands. "Master Forrest. Someone is here for you." Ash said as he and Angela walked into his office.

"What do you mean, 'someone'?" Edward asked.

"His name is Chlaus. He says he was sent by Mr. Vanel to discuss everything with you." Angela stated.

The door suddenly burst open and loud bangs were heard in the room. Preceding them were bright flashes of light. Ash and Angela suddenly fell to the floor like sacks full of cement. Edward sat in his chair staring at the four assailants. Chlaus was a middle aged man dressed in the same Italian suits as the other three that stood by his side with pistols in hands. He removed his fedora to reveal brown hair tied neatly back in a ponytail. A sinister grin was plastered on his face with his facial hair seeming to move with it. "I came here to speak with you personally and it was taking too long. Nobody even bothered to offer us a cup of tea or whatever you British people drink." Chlaus had a thick Italian accent that Edward found annoying rather quickly. Edward was greatly unaffected by this statement and, his expression remained unchanged as he witnessed Ash and Angela's murders.

"Then you should have made an appointment." He said, struggling to stand with his cane. "However, I suppose we can make an exception."

"So, you're the one Mr. Vanel sent me to talk to? I wasn't expecting someone with your reputation to be a walking corpse."

"I was expecting someone of the Italian mafia to be more masculine."

This angered Chlaus greatly as he loaded his gun again and pointed the barrel at Edward's forehead. The Italian's three comrades had their guns aimed at him as well. His expression did not change, the mask covering his nose and mouth gave him an excellent poker face. He had a very haunting stare that looked death in the eye and asked it, 'Are you through?' If anything, Edward was displeased with the man's attempt to threaten him. He looked at him as if he were a parent disciplining a petulant child. "You really think you can get out of this one?! Your servants are all dead, have you noticed?" Edward looked behind Chlaus' back and then his cold gaze returned to the Italian mobster, who pointed the gun in his face.

"All of them? Then who are those two?"

Chlaus turned around to see all three of the men who came with him, bloodthirsty and ruthless men lying dead at his feet. Their throats, were not just slit but carved open, and their blood was spilling onto the hardwood floor like dark red waterfalls from the deep gashes of the slowly dying men. Chlaus' horror was interrupted when the arm holding the pistol snapped only a few centimeters below the wrist. He dropped the copper colored gun onto the bloodstained floor as he screamed in agony. His eyes turned from horror to shock as he noticed the hand breaking his limb was wearing a purple overcoat. He looked up further to see the two white haired servants he had shot dead. He then felt a sharp pain as the black stick that was Edward's cane jabbed into his stomach. Standing behind the man dressed in black was the maid in white examining the bloodstain on the once pristine apron over her stomach where the bullet entered.

"Don't move." Edward said, forcing the cane further into the man's stomach. "Just listen and I'll teach you the way of life."

"Brutto bastardo!" Chlaus cursed in Italian pulling out a small knife hidden up his sleeve. He attempted in vain to attack the master of the Forrest household only to have the knife placed at his throat with such speed that no living person could have seen it. The blade dug under his skin, not enough to kill him but certainly enough to go under the tender flesh on his throat.

"Are you two alright?" Edward asked his servants.

"Quite, Master Forrest. We've dealt with worse than this, my lord." Ash said while holding the squirming mobster in place.

"The only damage he had done was to our uniforms. Shame too, this was a perfectly good apron." Angela said.

"Well, I'm glad you're alright. So then, back to the matter at hand." Edward said, removing his cane from Chlaus' stomach. "The one your friend sent you to find, whoever he thought I was, has no interest in your criminal activity unless it benefits him. The fact you're still alive now is because I wish to ask something of you and your friends in the higher places of your organization."

Chlaus stared at Edward in anger as he made his way towards the window of his office. Not much to watch but he had made a habit of it as if there was something behind that thin pane of glass. He suddenly lurched forward placing his gloved hand over his mask where his mouth would be and coughed deafeningly. Angela instinctively rushed to Edward's side in an anxious frenzy. She had long since grown used to his coughing fits and even with the cane he couldn't stand without extra assistance. After a full minute, the coughing started to calm down. Edward removed his hand from the front of his mouth and revealed the blood that was starting to seep through his surgical mask.

"Thank you Angela. I'm fine now." He said while steadying himself. Angela slowly let go of him and backed away. "Apologies for that Mr. Chlaus. Anyway, you are currently doing business with someone who is of particular interest to me. One Ciel Phantomhive of the Funtom Corporation. Now why would an Italian mobster have any use for a confectionery and toy company? You want to take advantage of his naivety for your own profit, am I right?"

"If it's money you want, there is a way out of this situation. You can still profit from the Funtom Corporation." Edward motioned for Angela to open a safe that was hidden behind the portrait of Horatio Nelson he had hanging in his office. Once the safe was opened a fraction of the room was illuminated by a yellow glow. In the safe was a small mountain of gold bars.

"I'll even give you compensation for your efforts. All you have to do is fulfill any objective I ask you to fulfill, on any occasion of my choice." He said as Angela closed the safe and snuffed out the light in the room. "So then, do we have a deal?"


	2. Chapter 2

Edward sat patiently on the folding chair in the grass outside of the Phantomhive house. It was half past 10:00 and the moon shown brightly in the night sky. Ash and Angela stood behind him like ghostly white sentinels guarding their master from any and all threats. He had assigned the Italian mobster to attend the Phantomhive household with permission from his higher ups, which had been obtained by unconventional means to say the least. They had been waiting on the outskirts of the property patiently for a number of hours. Edward had been fairly impressed by Chlaus' ability to improvise a story about his arm that was bound up in a sling. A servant of his "threw a fit" he said, it would soon be dealt with. Once they had disappeared into the house, he was left to only hypothesis about the mobster's fate. He had been invited inside by a butler that made his skin crawl. Ash and Angela scowled at him throughout the few seconds they saw him. These were expressions he had never seen from his angelic servants.

He let this idea slip from his mind as he had more things to focus on and a long wait for Chlaus to return with results. A small fire had been built in the lawn which illuminated only a portion of the dying grass. The light was almost completely snuffed out by the large cauldron hanging above it by the handle. They had set this fire earlier and a substance was boiling inside of it. It had taken a long time to get the objects to melt and then boil in the cauldron. When they had finally gotten to their boiling point, screams of fear had invaded Edward's ear space. As the screams echoed throughout the night, Ash and Angela's heads jerked in the direction of the house but their faces were completely neutral. Edward closed the novel he was reading and gently placed it in his lap as the screams finally subsided. They had come from the house he was watching, and he of course anticipated this and knew better than to underestimate the dark forces of the house. Edward traced the title of the novel's cover with his gloved finger as he knew the greedy mobster would come running out any minute now. He also bore in mind that he might not return from the house at all. The force Ciel Phantomhive had at his disposal was powerful, omnipresent and above all completely loyal to him.

After many minutes of silence, he heard grunting and groaning coming from the direction of the house. Edward lurched forward slightly as a coughing fit was conjured up again. This was a much smaller coughing fit compared to the others that he had in the past but nevertheless he felt Angela's gentle hands rest on his shoulders to support him. He looked back at his pale servant and nodded slightly. What limited expression she saw on his face said, "I'm fine." She released him hesitantly and looked once again in the direction the grunting noises were coming from. The shadowy figure approaching them was limply badly, he had no use of his right leg. Chlaus limped forward with his face wrinkled in pain and tears streaming down his face. Edward noticed that his leg was twisted and bent in various directions to the point where it looked to be only hanging loosely by muscle. Tears of pain streamed down his face as he made his way to where Edward was waiting for him.

He stumbled on his words and his useless leg as he crawled his way toward Edward. "Good evening, Mr. Chlaus. How was your stay in the Phantomhive household?" Edward said calmly despite the man groaning in pain. "T-That house… I-It… It…" Despite his annoying stuttering and occasional grunts of pain caused by his now useless leg, Edward only solemnly looked at the Italian mobster without pity or even shock. His cold gaze slowly moved to the bright substance boiling in the cauldron that had been set up hours earlier. Angela paid Chlaus little to no heed as she gently placed a thick twig in the substance and slowly stirred it. Ash made a small but noticeable effort to block Chlaus' path to his master. "Horrifying wasn't it?" Edward asked the panic-stricken Italian who looked at him in shock. "I know. Ciel Phantomhive controls the satanic force that has rendered you to such a sorry state. It was by his will that you are still alive, surprising he let you crawl away really." Edward said leaning forward in his chair with his fingers steepled in front of his face. Chlaus' shock turned to a scowl as Edward looked down upon him. He knew about what would happen, he was aware of the haunting of the Phantomhive manor. He knew that this would happen here and he still sent him in. What kind of monster was Edward Forrest? How evil was he that he sent a man to such a horrifying place?

"You bastard! You set me up! You sent me to my death!" Chlaus ranted and raved as Edward's calm demeanor did not falter.

"Yet you're still alive. You walked into a young and defenseless boy's home and came out by sacrificing the bones in your leg." Edward said. "It seems I was correct to assume that you are struggling with your masculinity."

Chlaus' anger boiled to the point of trying to attack Edward only for his twisted leg to give out from beneath him and he faceplanted into the dirt. Edward found the display rather amusing, but his expression remained the same. "You have served us well, though. You gave us the results we were hoping for and so you should be rewarded." Edward said causing the older man to look up at him. Greed flashed in his eyes as he remembered the gold bars he had seen back in the Forrest manor. Ash assisted the Italian man to his knees and he looked to see Angela stirring the contents of the cauldron. He noted that the flames licking the bottom of the cauldron was a bright blue and there were no trace of orange or even yellow in the flame.

"You've served your purpose and bear the scars of your mission. Allow me to offer you my sincerest apologies, my little brother can be rather… aggressive when it comes to incidents like this." Edward said as he looked towards the Phantomhive manor in the distance. Chlaus' eyes widened slightly at this new information. The Phantomhive brat was really his brother? His apology however, had a flavor of sarcasm and the lack of emotion in his eyes failed to back up the apology's sincerity. That hardly mattered anymore, he would get what was coming to him, he would be paid his wage and then his nightmare that was dubbed Edward Forrest would be out of his life forever.

"What is that?" Chlaus looked to the cauldron that Angela had finished stirring.

"Your reward." Edward said with no emotion as Angela produced a large ladle dipping it into the cauldron and scooping up a bright yellow substance. Ash suddenly grabbed onto Chlaus' nose and chin, forcing his jaws open to a painful extent. His struggle proved pointless because of his already broken arm and the pain from his twisted leg. Angela moved the ladle closer to his face and a sinister smile was on her face, the same smile that was on Ash's face. Edward watched, calmly resting his chin on his left hand.

His screams were muffled by the molten gold crawling it's way down his throat, steam rising up into his nostrils. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air. Angela continued to pour more of the gold down the man's throat until his movements and squeals stopped. The steam and gold suffocated the avaricious man and upon the cessation of his movements, Edward could only feel sick. He put it off as the steam and the scent of burning skin infiltrating his mask. Edward's neutral expression changed to discomfort then he lurched forward coughing harshly into his mask. Angela dropped the ladle to the grass and rushed over to Edward to support him once again as he continued to hack blood into the mask.

"I'm fine, Angela, thank you." He saidnhoarsely and Angela backed off slowly but still stood close by with concern etched into her face. Ash dropped the corpse onto the grass and awaited orders from his master. "Ash, I would like for you to take care of the body. Please make sure that his body is never discovered and, in the event that he is try to make him unrecognizable. Meet us at the house." Ash bowed to his master and said confidently, "Consider it done master Forrest." When Ash disappeared with the corpse he turned to Angela and said, "Angela, it's time to return home. After the fire is put out and the cauldron is collected we will leave this place." Angela smiled gently and immediately got to work. Edward waited patiently in his carriage watching the house thoughtfully. Angela had disposed of the evidence of the murder at an astonishing speed and when the horses dragged them away from the house Edward felt melancholy as he watched the house pass them by. "My little brother is rather amusing, isn't he?" Edward said to himself and somehow Angela had heard him. She smirked again at her master's statement as if agreeing with him. The carriage's silhouette soon faded into the darkness of the night as the wind continued to blow. All of nature swayed in the direction the wind had commanded it to and the air carried with it a sinister sense of impending doom.

Upon returning to his home Edward limped up the stairs to his quarters. Ash was waiting for them both and they both walked behind Edward as he made his way to his bed. He peeled off his surgical mask and continued to cough up clumps of blood. The dark crimson flew from his mouth into the metallic bucket that he had rested on his lap. Ash and Angela stood watching him, one being completely indifferent the other trying not to show concern. A full minute had passed before he was done but he felt like that one minute had crawled on hands and knees. Ash gently took the bloodied surgical mask away from him and bowed upon Edward saying, "Ash, would you dispose of this please?"

"Of course, my lord." Ash said leaving quietly and so he and Angela were alone.

Angela assisted Edward to his feet and began to help him change from his suit into his sleepwear. The frequent gazes she cast upon his wiry, skeletal figure as well as his sickly pale flesh made her think to herself, "he's hardly changed since we met." Edward took notice of her, he did not notice what she was thinking about, but he decided not to pry. When he was finally dressed in his sleepwear he crawled underneath his covers. He wheezed slowly as he tried to force himself to sleep and lying down made him cough loudly because of a smaller amount of oxygen reaching his lungs. Angela sat beside his bed on a stool and gently moved his hair to the side. Edward's wheezing slowly subsided but didn't completely go away. He coughed occasionally but Angela never left him. He lay down on his side and Angela watched over him, thus giving him a sense of security and even peace.

Edward and a string of other nobles had been formally invited to the Phantomhive household for a meeting being held there. Edward's servants stood on both sides of him when he watched the others in the room surround a billiard table. Edward's cold eyes landed on Ciel sitting in a chair in the corner with one of his legs crossed over the other, resting his head in his left hand. Ciel had passed most of his turns and watched everyone make their plays. Edward clung to his cane tightly when his eyes fell upon his brother and beneath his gloves his knuckles turned whiter than the flesh on them normally was. A loud crash could be heard from outside of the room which undoubtedly were Ciel's other servants running around making fools of themselves. Edward had found their antics irritating at times with the exception of some being amusing only for the moment. "The rats again." Someone said and Edward let his thoughts stray to the past as they prattled on about rats and subtly glorified his estranged sibling. He ignored the conversation concerning rats as he struggled to remember the happier days growing up with a once happy Ciel. He loved Ciel the way a good older brother should and the games they played together would always bring light back into his dark world. Edward did not need to get involved in the conversation as knew what they had meant by the word, "rat". They had somehow discovered that someone who was not welcome had infiltrated their meeting. They were all wondering what Ciel would do about it. "He prefers to deal with it all in one blow." Said a woman dressed entirely in crimson that everyone called Madam Red. She was the boys' aunt and one of the only other surviving members of the Phantomhive family.

Edward cracked his neck while he thought how pathetic it would be to rely on an arrogant adolescent to do the work of adults. The game was almost over, and the billiard balls were strewn across the table, Victory was almost impossible without sinking the cue ball. The black ball almost fell into the hole but stopped rolling right on the edge. "Well, one rat still has the chance to crawl away by the skin on its blackening teeth." Edward said staring down at the black billiard ball. The number eight was visible from its side. Ciel was not perturbed by this however and calmly walked over to the taller man. His one blue eye stared into Edward's, which were looking down upon him. "I don't believe I've seen you do anything about it." Ciel said as he held out the cue. "I don't believe I've seen you do much of anything this afternoon now that I recall. Why don't you show us what you're capable of, Mr. Forrest?"

"You've always struck me as the kind of person who prefers to handle things alone Lord Phantomhive." Edward said.

"Well, who's to say I don't like watching people scramble for a solution?" Ciel said still holding out the cue with a light smirk. "I insist you take your turn."

Edward looked around the room to see all the other patrons staring at him and then at the cue with a melancholy expression. The only reason his brother even acknowledged him today was to try and get him to play a game. His brother did not even remember the simpler games they used to play at all. This made something swell in his heart that he forced down again upon remembering the bean counters expected him to either go along with the young aristocrat's game or retreat. Their expectance of the ladder was obvious when some tried to hide their surprise. "The little lord does insist." The sickly man said mockingly, shrugging his shoulders as he gently handed his cane to Ash. Edward made his way towards the billiard table and set his sights on the final ball. Strike it weakly then the cue will hardly move any closer. Strike it hard enough then the cue will sink along with the ball. It wouldn't cost him the game, it was simply inconvenient. "You don't seem to have a whole lot of options left, Mr. Forrest." Ciel said and Edward simply smirked behind his mask. "So it would seem. But the cue will sink for what would be considered a righteous cause."

"And that is?" Ciel asked sitting in his chair with his legs crossed, watching Edward with great amusement.

"Why, victory of course." Edward said while preparing his blow. He struck the end of the cue on the blank white ball hard enough to get the black ball into the hole. The cue looked like it would fall into the hole, pausing only for a split second before falling in. "If you are afraid to risk your chance at fighting another day thus giving up your own life to secure the success of your goals then you can hardly call yourself a winner, let alone a champion." Edward turned to his younger brother's stone-faced gaze, "You agree don't you Lord Phantomhive?"


	3. Chapter 3

Billiards had managed to entertain them for quite some time before boredom consumed them and the meeting was adjourned. There was nothing further to discuss. At least not with so many people around.

A majority of the guests had left the manor as the manner of discussion currently did not concern them. Among the ones that remained in the Phantomhive manor aside from its residents were Edward Forrest and his two angelic servants who stood behind him at attention. They watched Ciel's butler Sebastian with well-hidden disdain mixed with careful skepticism. They knew that Edward was in danger being this close to something like Sebastian, as he was called, but he had told them that it would never attack unless his brother ordered him to. He just had to do nothing that would warrant such a thing. With Ciel's complete control over the demon, Edward noted that Sebastian could not act independently without his little brother's commands.

Among them was Angelina Dalles, affectionately called Madam Red, often because of her affinity for the color crimson. Edward found this affinity rather unhealthy, but he never said anything considering his clothes were mostly consisting of a dark gray. She had gotten her doctorate in medicine a number of years ago, but she hardly acted the way a mature doctor should, at least not around Edward. Watching from a distance was Angelina's klutzy and incompetent servant, Grell Sutcliffe. Grell had a dazed look on his face, which came off as a romantic obsession with Sebastian. It could have just been simple admiration though and again, Edward brushed this off, as he was completely useless to him. Grell was completely useless to everyone though as he spent most of his time with his head in the clouds.

Finally, there was the only foreigner of the bunch. Lau was a Chinese nobleman whom Edward suspected of being up to shady things, but he couldn't care less. Not much was known about him; while he wasn't an unfriendly man, he was certainly reserved. Sitting on his lap was a silent woman named Ran Mao. Lau had made it clear that she was his sister, but he could never figure out why she was sitting on his lap very frequently and Lau didn't seem to know himself. She never said why, she just remained silent, only occasionally moving in accordance with her "brother."

As the conversation of "rats" commenced, Sebastian walked into the room pushing a cart, a tea set bestowed upon it. "What we have here is a special Darjeeling blend to offer from Fortnum and Mason today." Sebastian said as he prepared it for those sitting in the drawing room.

"None for me, thank you." Edward said, gesturing to his mask, "The coughing has been picking up again and I'd rather not get anyone ill."

Sebastian bowed to him in a subservient manner and said, "Please forgive me, Mr. Forrest. I had not considered your ailment. I hope you are not offended by my negligence."

"Of course not." Edward said, raising a gloved hand as if to signal that all was forgiven and forgotten. "Do not distress yourself. If I held a grudge against everyone who had forgotten that I was sickly, then I would have no friends. Besides, my illness is something I frequently wish I could forget."

Sebastian offered a light smile and apologized again to which Edward dismissed. He would forgive any offenses the demon had made against him but he would never forgive him for having the goal of murdering his younger brother and consume his soul. This was something he could never allow to pass. Sebastian didn't need to know this, however. Not yet, anyway.

"Now then, perhaps we could move on to more pleasant topics." Edward suggested with a friendly smile behind his mask. Angelina was focusing on him the most out of all of them. She was also paying attention to Ciel, who was sitting next to her and found herself struggling to keep both in her line of sight.

She was the sister of Ciel's mother, which made her the aunt of both Edward and Ciel. Even with the mask and his increase in age, Angelina could easily make out, much to her shock, that Edward had made his way back into their lives. She had never been behind her sister and her husband's actions but at the end she did not protest either. She figured it was for the best that he be put out of his misery.

His tuberculosis had been getting worse with each passing day and yet the fragile little boy had still clung to life. Even now she could tell he was suffering; he had gotten better at hiding it, though.

She never told Ciel that his older brother was sitting beside him discussing gothic literature. She couldn't. She figured Ciel would figure it out himself anyway. Edward had to have been underestimating his brother's intelligence, right? He didn't keep his identity particularly well hidden. The only thing he changed was his surname. Nevertheless, Ciel had fallen for his charade of a young, up and coming construction tycoon who had inherited his manor, wealth and business from his deceased parents just like Ciel had. He had her on a tight leash and in a binding deal. A deal that he promised would benefit them both as well as Ciel. She couldn't tell if Edward still loved Ciel the way an older brother should or if he despised him for having the life he didn't. Either way, he made certain that Ciel had remained ignorant of their relationship and what occurred in the past. A past that had since traumatized him and lead him to conspiracy and murder.

She had decided to take her mind off things by scolding a daydreaming Grell, who stood at attention awkwardly.

Edward paid this no mind. He hid his irritation rather well as his conversation was interrupted. He looked to Angela's hands, which were balled up into fists, clutching her apron and dress at her sides. Her face didn't express it, but she had hatred in her heart. It was the hatred of Sebastian and the darkness of his demonic heart. When her gaze fell to Edward who lightly shook his head "no" her grip slowly relaxed and her hate became less obvious.

His attention turned once again to his aunt, who was lecturing Grell. "Learn something from Sebastian, won't you?" She said before her hand suddenly went behind the butler to somewhere… suggestive. This left everyone else in a shock at the comical scene. "I mean, look at this physique," she commented shamelessly, "You should quit working out here in the boonies and come work for me in the city."

Edward reached his gloved hand to his face in embarrassment. His mask hid it rather well, but his face went warm with embarrassment. He frequently wondered why he had left his aunt alive. Why couldn't she have been in the house with her sister to burn with them? God was kind enough to gift him his loyal servants but not so kind as to rid him of this terrible burden that was one of the few semblances of his past life.

"Ahem. Madam Red." Ciel said impatiently.

"Oh, sorry." Madam Red said, barely feigning regret, "He looked like he needed a physical. Doctor's habit."

"So, you believe this drug dealer was among your guests?" Lau asked Ciel, quickly changing the subject. Edward was surprised Lau was paying attention this time, he figured that he thought it would mean a literal rat rather than a drug dealer.

"Perhaps." Ciel said, resting his head on his fist in his chair while crossing his legs.

"We should approach the situation with caution," Edward said, "If the drug dealer was among your guests then he knows that we're onto him. He's clearly not a stupid man if he managed to sneak his way in."

"How do you think we should proceed?" Ciel asked Edward, clearly getting bored already. This was probably to be expected of a thirteen-year-old who was forcing himself to act like an adult but was still a petty child. Still, Edward felt he shouldn't approach the situation so lightly, this is a drug dealer they're tracking down after all.

"Well, I don't think I would be wrong to suspect he has mafia ties and he certainly has a high opinion of himself. We might be able to use that against him somehow." Edward proposed, his fingers forming a steeple in front of his face.

"Why not just leave the extermination to Lau?" Madam Red suggested, "A rat knows where a rat's nest is, right?"

"I am but a tamed guinea pig for my lord," Lau said, appearing to have materialized behind Ciel. "If he instructs me to do nothing then I shall do nothing.

Of course, Lau's sudden appearance put the young boy in a state of unease. Both Edward and Madam Red picked up on this, but she beat Edward to the punch.

She, almost by the same evil magic, managed to grab him away before she could even be noticed. She then proceeded to chew out Lau who simply laughed it off in his carefree manner.

Edward put his fingers to his temples as the argument between the two commenced. He groaned quietly, unheard by anybody in the room. He coughed slightly, but it wasn't too serious this time. Angela took notice of this and was prepared to support him back onto the chair or to his feet should the coughing inevitably get worse. Edward slumped in his chair as the argument commenced.

Ciel had simply had enough and got up to leave the room. His attempts were thwarted by Sebastian, who informed him that there was a matter of obvious importance. At least to Ciel it was important.

"Master, today's desert is a deep-dish pie served with fresh apples and raisins. It will be ready soon. Would you like to eat with your guests?" Sebastian asked him.

"Bring it to my study." Ciel commanded as he walked past his butler, "I'm done here."

"Done?" Edward thought out loud. He noted that Ciel's bluntness was very impolite, but he could hardly blame him. He felt he had a good mind to crack his aunt or the Chinaman to get them to shut up. He restrained himself though. These weren't common mobsters that you could control with a bribe or through fear, this was enemy territory. But he still couldn't help but feel that his bluntness was a result of his parents' deaths and Edward not being able to teach him right from wrong. He couldn't be in his brother's life for ten years, but it was a necessary evil. Nevertheless, he blamed himself and regretted not being there sooner. He could have just looked after him after the house was rebuilt and guided him as best he could. He was the older brother; that was his job. Maybe he could have prevented him from making a pact with a demon. Still, what's done is done. All he could do now was focus on the future. He thought all of this forlornly as Ciel opened the door and walked out.

He couldn't focus on the future now, though. Getting any thinking done would be a miracle as the other servants were making a ruckus running about the manor with one dressed as a cat, another with a hammer and the final one covered in mouse traps. Their screaming and running about was something that Ciel was used to by now, but it irritated Edward. Their obnoxious screaming about rats, literal rats that is, gave him a migraine. He sighed deeply as he massaged his temples, which did little to nothing to silence the irritating screams.

They had finally been silenced by Sebastian, who in a single swift movement, swooped upon the rodents and clutched onto them tightly. "That's enough." Sebastian said, "Stop playing and get back to work."

"Sir." All three said at the same time.

Ciel closed the doors to his study behind him and let out a heavy sigh.

Finally, some peace and quiet.

That was how it was before his nose and mouth were covered by a rag that emitted a foul odor. An odor that he inhaled involuntarily upon gasping in surprise as everything faded to black.

Sebastian knocked on the door twice.

"Master, I've brought your pie and afternoon tea." Sebastian said.

After a moment of silence, he opened the door to see the room was in disarray. Papers and books strewn about the floor, the window wide open and no sign of his master anywhere. All that went through Sebastian's mind was, "The refreshments will all be wasted now."

Ciel Phantomhive went by many names. The policeman of England's underworld, one of the nobles that has done the royal family's dirty work for generations. At this moment though, Ciel Phantomhive was bound by ropes and at the mercy of Azzurro Vanel, one of the guests from earlier in the day. The one who had lost the game of billiards and above all else, he was the drug dealer in their midst.

"The Queen's guard dog they call him," Azzurro said aloud with a cigar in his teeth. "Tasked with disposing of anyone who disagrees with her. Just how many nicknames do you have, and how many families have you destroyed?"

"I should have known it was you, Vanel. You disgrace your family name." Ciel said defiantly, despite being tied up, defenseless and bleeding from the nose.

"Oh, come now, Lord Phantomhive." Vanel said as the smoke from his cigar rose from his mouth, "You know how hard it is for the Italian mafia here. You Englishmen have nothing but tea on the brain, it's difficult to penetrate those small minds of yours, so we must think outside the box to make money. Of course, I can't speak for all of you, there was one gentleman who was sympathetic to our plight and was very… generous with his offer."

A few weeks prior, several branches of the Ferro crime family gathered in a mansion in London upon request of the master of the house. They didn't know his name or even what he looked like. They were instructed by two of his servants, a man and a woman all dressed in white and purple, to refer to him as Grimm.

"What the hell are we doing here?" A morbidly obese man asked aloud after they had been sitting alone in the room for at least a good five minutes.

"I thought we agreed we weren't going to be doing jobs in London." The only female of the group said while chewing on a cigarette. " _Her majesty_ is making things too risky."

"I hear ya," Said Azzurro Vanel, who was among them. He sat in his chair with his legs crossed. "But the big man wanted us to check this guy out. So that's what we're here for. Not to mention, he's using us for something. This guy is the same one who hired Claude."

There was a distinct murmuring among the group. The ones that weren't sitting down were simply the right-hand men of the high-ranking criminals. They were instructed not to say anything unless directed to do so. They were also brought along for safety reasons. They hardly saw why it mattered anyway though, as they were instructed to leave any and all weapons outside of the room on a cart. They would be returned by the end of the meeting.

"The big man also said he had a lot to offer and given Claude's failure he was owed compensation. You shoulda' seen what he did to the guy, had his head cut off and sent right back to the big man's office. We don't know what happened to his body." Vanel continued his story until the door was opened.

"It was burned." The Englishman said upon entering the room. "There will be no point in trying to find his body. It'll just be a waste of time."

Who the hell was this guy? He couldn't have been more than 16 or 17 and the man and woman in white were subserviently standing behind him as if they were his personal bodyguards. Among his noticeable features was how thin he was, how pale his skin tone, the dark rings around his eyes and the surgical mask on his face. An attempt to conceal his identity, perhaps? If it was he wasn't doing a very good job.

"I am Grimm." He said upon sitting down at his desk. "I thank you all for coming and I bid you welcome-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Said the fat mobster, "Get on with it. Whaddya want?"

"I appreciate that you're pressed for time so allow me to get to the point. I asked your 'friend' the big man, to send down his best and brightest for a very special job." Grimm said as he rested his elbows on his desk with his fingers forming a steeple. "More like a very special target."

He then presented a picture two individuals. A tall, handsome adult with black hair and pale skin. He seemed unaware that he was being photographed. He was dressed in a butler's uniform and standing behind a young boy. The boy had an eyepatch and he looked bored out of his mind.

"Your target is the adult in this picture. His name is Sebastian Michaelis. A simple butler who serves the boy in the picture with a loyalty that is rarely seen these days. He might not look like much, but I warn you not to underestimate him. He is a capable servant and more than willing to use extreme violence when necessary. His abilities could give you the impression that he is under… mystical persuasion." Grimm explained.

"You called us here to kill a butler?" The fat mobster said, getting up from his seat and stomping towards Grimm's desk. The white figures took a defensive stance but Grimm raised his hand in a motion telling them to stand down. He then rose up from his desk with the help of his cane.

"Surely it's not a problem for ones so highly recommended." Grimm said.

"That's hardly the issue here. The issue is that we're wasting our time on you and your petty problems." The fat mobster said.

"Francesco," Azzurro said, "There's no need to be disrespectful." Azzurro couldn't let him go too far. He might refuse their services and the big man wouldn't be pleased. He was surprised when Grimm spoke his next words kindly and reassuringly.

"No, please Francesco." He said, his mask raising with his friendly smile. "Feel free to speak your mind. Your opinions matter greatly, we can't proceed without knowing who's totally on board and who isn't."

"Alright, listen Grimm… or whatever the hell your name is. We're popular guys with a lot of powerful clientele. People that have bigger ideas than killing a damn butler. What you're doing is demeaning us by giving us such a simple job. You're the one who's being disrespectful here. You had us come all the way to England just to waste our time on you arrogant bastards. You look down on us despite being a goddamned corpse. I mean look at you, you're pathetic. Why should we bother helping you with your petty grudge when we've got governors and Prime Ministers kissing our asses?" Francesco said while giving Edward a slight push against his chest.

It wasn't much force, but it made Grimm cough loudly, nonetheless. He lurched forward as he hacked up blood loudly and disturbingly. The sound of the coughing made everyone in the room cringe except for the angelic servants.

The woman rushed past Francesco, not caring that she had bumped into him. She reached out and grasped onto Grimm's shoulders. She kept him on his feet while trying to guide him back to his seat, but she was stopped by Grimm, who finally got the coughing under control.

"You see? This bastard shouldn't have gotten involved with the big man. He should just give us compensation for coming over here and we can go back to Italy. We walk all over twigs like this for fun and what's stopping us from doing that now?"

He then started laughing loudly before Grimm interrupted him.

"Perhaps you're right." He said. "I'm not the strongest man on the planet but there are a few reasons why it's not a good idea."

"Oh yeah, and what's that _Cadavere_?"

"Well, first of all you're all on _my_ payroll." Edward said as he maintained his calm composure after moving his hair to the side. The bangs had come loose after his coughing fit.

"Also, you're all expendable at _my_ mercy." With that, Grimm snapped his fingers and Francesco was forced to the hardwood floor with a hard thump. The man in white under Edward's employ savagely grabbed him by the hair with a foot planted firmly into his back. One hard jerk and Francesco's body was violently contorted with his back bending backwards until his spine snapped loudly. He let out a single gasp before going silent and his head bounced off the ground.

"And unfortunately, my mercy is limited." Grimm said as he walked to his desk again making sure to step on the dead mobster's swollen head.

"However, that can't be said about the pay I'm offering." He said as he opened a drawer and pulled out a few bundles of bills. All of them worth 76 pounds (100 dollars). "A single butler for at least 500,000 pounds. Use any methods that you feel necessary, all I ask is that no harm comes to the boy in the process. What I'm offering is the payment you're offered for up to 10 lives, all for one single, worthless life. It would be wise not to cross me again gentlemen." Grimm said as he waved the bills around. "So, with that in mind, do we have a deal?"

"No harm to the boy, huh?" Azzurro said in his head as he stared the young boy down, "Well guess what, Grimm, things change in this business. I'm doing things MY way."


End file.
